Following Verses Leading

  I spent my life learning how to follow. It was an important exercise. It taught me so much about how the world operates and how I can use the world effectively to further my own needs. But there are limits to following. There came a point in time when I had to learn to lead.

  And, ironically, leading is a kind of following, but you're following yourself rather than others. The focus changes from outside to inside. Leading is an important exercise because it brings you in touch with your inner world. And, in the end, it's the world within where your needs really get met. The world around you will never satisfy certain needs.

  Leading yourself is the ultimate power trip. It puts you in charge of yourself. It teaches you to trust yourself. And when you lead yourself in the wrong direction, it teaches you first hand just how difficult it is to lead anyone or any group. 

  The problem with the leaders of our country is that they haven't learned to lead themselves. They're practicing on us. And this is dangerous. We need leaders who've practiced on themselves. The best leaders of nations are people who know themselves well. The fact that we have so many people in political office who lie, steal and commit adultery exemplified the problem of learning to lead from the inside out. These politicians lie, steal and cheat on themselves, and then they go out and do the same to others. It's appalling. 

  But the only solution to this problem is spiritual. We must tackle the issues of following and leading by teaching our youth to lead themselves. The issues of responsibility to one's self must come before we give people responsibility over others. There's no way to think for yourself if you're copying other people's behavior. 

  It takes courage to lead yourself. It's much easier to a sheep than a wolverine. Those animals who live independently of groups often live underground. They have a peculiar ability to see in the dark. They depend on themselves. They don't have the herd mentality. And they often exhibit unusual assertive behavior that makes them difficult to handle.

  But we can't afford a world of sheep any longer. There are too many wolves out there preying on sheep. We've got to teach sheep how to see the wolverine within. 

  What if you did one little thing today that might make you stand out as being different from the norm; different from how you behaved yesterday; different from what others would anticipate? What if you looked at the darkness within you and moved through it rather than cower in the light? The truth is that you can't depend on your eyes anyway. You know that nothing is as it appears. People look old but act like infants emotionally. Companies make promises they have no intention of fulfilling. Even you don't look within like you look on the outside. 

  So why not give up the over emphasis on sight. Start to listen. Listen within. And perhaps you'll hear the voice of a leader who's dying for one, just one loyal follower.

Self-Love: Science verses Religion

The issue with loving yourself is that religion tells us it’s arrogant to do so, and science tells us it’s impossible. Of course, they’re both wrong.

The greatest forbidden fruit hanging from the Tree of Life is me. I was the last person on earth I was attracted to. Physically I wasn’t my type; emotionally I saw through myself, but only so far as to see down to the layer of insincerity.; and spiritually I had no opinion one way or the other.

Just from the point of view of an observer of life, the analytical side of me could see no value in loving myself when no one else was doing it. In the natural world there are no indications of self-regard and self-esteem reaching to the level of self-love. And amongst my own species (humans) most consider the idea a joke.

But I postulate that without self-love my life has no meaning. I was born alone; I’ll die alone.  And everything else in between is a series of experiences that either teaches me about the world, or it teach me about my world. And that depends entirely on me. Most people I meet are consumed with the world around them. Even if they’re not frantic about their survival issues, their passions are usually about something. And even when their passion is about someone, it’s never themselves.

Of course I’ve met exceptions to that rule, but those I’ve met who are consumed with themselves have always exhibited extreme examples of vanity, worry or preoccupation. I’ve never met someone who loved himself in a healthy way. Granted, I’ve met people who’ve exhibited loving traits that have demonstrated to me how deeply they believe in certain values, but I’ve never met anyone who quite talked about self-love the way I do.

Never was there a truer adage than, “You can’t take it with you.” And still we see so many people consumed with material acquisition. There are even those who collect people like Christmas ornaments they display with great affection at a certain time of the year. And they, too, need to be reminded that people aren’t ornaments. You can’t take them with you.

So what can you take with you? I think that’s a question that needs to be asked, and I’m open to both scientific and religious answers. But I’ve looked closely at all the usual answers from both camps, and I have to say I’m not impressed with any of their answers. Science treats me like an object with no inherent meaning. And religion treats me like a pawn in a game of their own choosing. I’m not willing to play along with either.

I see myself as a “subject,” rather than an object. And I’m the most fascinating subject I’ve ever encountered. Nowhere else on earth offers me the possibilities of exploration and frontier that I find within. Learning about myself is fascinating. I’m deeper than the oceans. My dreams are higher than the sky. And my need for grounding is more real than the earth beneath my feet. I am a world in a world. And when I leave this world I fully expect to find myself still in the world within I’m coming to love with such devotion.